November 15, 2016 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
During discussions that addressed two of the last remaining open access fisheries in the region, the New England Fishery Management Council today:
- Approved a scoping document for Amendment 5 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to consider limited access in both the skate bait and non-bait fisheries; and
- Received a progress report on Amendment 22 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP, which will include alternatives to limit access to small-mesh multispecies.
The skate complex is made up of seven species: barndoor, clearnose, little, rosette, smooth, thorny, and winter skates. The bait fishery primarily targets little skate, along with a small percentage of juvenile winter skate, while the non-bait fishery primarily targets adult winter skate for the wing market.
Control dates already are in place for both fisheries – July 30, 2009 for the bait fishery and March 31, 2014 for the non-bait fishery. The Council asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to publish the control dates after skate fishermen expressed concern that unrestrained increases in fishing effort by new entrants
Advancing to the next step of the process, the Council is now preparing to conduct scoping hearings early in the new year to give the public an opportunity to raise concerns or make suggestions about the range of alternatives for Skate Amendment 5. The purpose of the amendment is to consider developing a limited access program for the skate bait and non-bait fisheries, potentially with qualification criteria, permit conditions and categories, and other related measures.
Whiting Limited Access Under Consideration in Amendment 22
The Council also received a progress report on Amendment 22, which contains alternatives to potentially limit access to the small-mesh multispecies fishery. Participants in this fishery target red hake, silver hake, and offshore hake. Silver and offshore hake typically are referred to as “whiting.”
The Council held five scoping hearings in December 2015 to solicit initial input on the amendment and now is developing qualification criteria alternatives using a preliminary analysis of fleet history. The Whiting Plan Development Team (PDT), Whiting Advisory Panel, and Whiting Committee still have a considerable amount of work to do before the Council can select alternatives for the draft amendment that will be taken to public hearing. However, the Council took an early look at three alternatives that the PDT will begin to analyze. Two use a five-year, 2008-2012 qualification period – up to the Nov. 28 cutoff for the control date – and one uses a 1996-2012 qualification period. Each alternative has a high- and low-level permit status, potentially having different possession limits. As a first cut, the Whiting Committee identified three sets of qualification criteria representing the cumulative poundage (all five years combined) needed to qualify under the proposals:
- First Alternative – 500,000 pounds for the high level permit and 100,000 pounds for the low level permit under the 2008-2012 qualification period;
- Second Alternative – 1,000,000 pounds for the high level permit and 20,000 pounds for the low level permit under the 2008-2012 qualification period; and
- Third Alternative – 1,000,000 pounds for the high level permit and 200,000 pounds for the low level permit using the 1996-2012 period.